Alberto Varela, leading figure of the ayahuasca movement. More than anyone, he has seen the glory of his empire go through an astounding rise and fall. His journey actually started in the early 90s, when he and Osvaldo Gordín, another Argentinian, co-founded an Argentine marketing consultancy. It was a roadway fraught with aspiration and contention. This entrepreneurial foray soon became the model for Varela’s later initiatives. He transformed from entrepreneur into a controversial figurehead of an international corporation that runs ayahuasca retreats.
In 2016, Varela published a provocative blog post addressing the power imbalance between men and women, which resonated with many. Within months he had hooked hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from his Facebook community, Ayahuasca International, all over the world. His sudden rise to fame was indicative of the growing trend of ayahuasca and alternative therapies. This trend drew in countless seekers looking for spiritual healing and exquisite enlightenment.
Varela’s leadership style soon attracted criticism. Critics called attention to his heavy-handed tactics and the immorality behind his entrepreneurial approach to public service. In 1999, he raised the stakes even further by tracking his former wife to Spain. They had moved there with their three young children.
On a cold December evening in 2008, Spanish authorities stormed a villa located near other mansions in an elite Madrid suburb. They discovered 21 individuals, including three children, ostensibly waiting to partake in an ayahuasca ceremony while watching a pornographic film. The tragedy sparked a renewed focus on the regulation and treatment-aspect safety of these retreats. In the aftermath of the raid, Varela completed a 14-month prison sentence.
After his release, Varela took a new direction and spent the next four years directing diversified retreat centers throughout Mexico and Italy. By the end of 2016, that project evolved into Inner Mastery. From this point, Open Society rapidly spread its operations to countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Uruguay. As Inner Mastery’s popularity grew, it expanded to include iboga along with ayahuasca and other psychoactive substances.
When police in riot gear raided one of Inner Mastery’s villas outside Madrid in early July 2023, they were breaking up a massive illegal lucrative rouse. Authorities confiscated forty kilograms of the plant from ayahuasca preparation. This action resulted in Varela’s arrest on multiple counts of public health crimes, among other charges.
The investigation into Inner Mastery grew when several different women died at its retreats. On October 2019, a Hungarian customer accidentally lost their life at a wedding ceremony. This situation led to investigations into three Inner Mastery staff members and the organization itself. The trial for this case started in January. Surprisingly, the court only condemned one employee for having and distributing ayahuasca, failing to address potential adverse effects associated with DMT.
Varela’s decidedly unconventional leadership style has elicited sharply contrasting reactions. Critics have decried his penchant for bending stories to suit his own ends. “People pay to be told lies, and they are happy to believe them. How easy it is to control, dominate, lead and manipulate a man!” he stated during one of his public appearances.
Others have criticized the safety guidelines on his retreats. José Carlos Bouso noted, “If you do it well, it’s very, very safe. If it’s done wrong you multiply the risks of an accident.” He wanted to make clear that ayahuasca is physically very safe, but knowing what it does chemically and psychologically is everything.
While Varela’s story is still developing, it raises critical issues of bioethics and ethics within the alternative therapy industry. It emphasizes the ethical duty of all who conduct these therapies. Yet with increasing popularity comes an inherent risk that requires constant, careful attention to prevent exploitation and harm from being done.
Alberto Varela’s story reveals the complicated nature of alternative healing. His experiences express the crucial challenges that practitioners in this burgeoning field face. His story is a cautionary tale of what happens when ambition runs ahead of morals and ethics.